When would you say that average people started "knowing" that comics could be valuable? 1 1

[Ablation Steve]

What I'm trying to say is, when did the average person start thinking that comics might be worth something, that the average parent cleaning out their kids room would have started thinking "I'm not throwing these away" or "I'm not putting these out at the garage sale for cover price." When was the point that most people went from "stupid comic books" to "I've heard comics might be worth something"?

There, I think that's what I'm asking. When did the non-comic-book-collecting world find out that comics might be worth something?

[kav]

Like 20 years ago maybe.  really hard talkin em down too.
"No, these books arent worth anything"
"BUT THEYRE 40 YEARS OLD!!!!

[Mercury Man]

Early-Mid 1990's maybe.  That is when new release Sports Cards and Comics in particular started getting hoarded by people who thought they would get rich.  So obscene value/speculation started seeping in- hence 'this may be worth something...I just don't know what'. 

I knew a guy who hoarded hundreds of Roger Salked baseball rookie cards, because he was going to be the next Nolan Ryan.  Who is Roger Salked?...EXACTLY.

[spracknetch23]

Superman #75. Long lines out of comic book stores for this long-term investment. 

[kav]

death of superman

[Robot Man]

When @Mmehdy plunked down a huge record price (at the time) for an Action#1. It was all over the news and had people digging them out of attics and basements to cash in...

[lordbyroncomics]

It was the early nineties. I was there- I was 12, but I was there.

I remember vividly: people around the block to buy the Death of Superman. I remember an Aunt calling to tell me she tried to get me one on her lunch break but there was a line out the door.

I remember vividly: going to my Grandparents and being flabbergasted that comics were being sold on QVC and Home Shopping Network. Playing up the "collectable" and investment side of it- I remember Dan Jurgens being a guest on one of these shows, I remember the Malibu "Protectors" which had a real bullet shot through it (!!) and the hosts of these shows obviously not knowing anything about comics.

I remember vividly "mainstream" coverage of comic books- the public became aware not of the potential of investment, but became aware that some OLD comics were worth tens of thousands (then) without realizing what KEYS were.. and, also not realizing WHY things are rare and why old books would be valuable in the first place, which still applies today: because of the War effort, so paper was recycled, because people didn't collect things, because newsprint deteriorates.

So this mass collective thought hit them that ALL comics would quadruple their value someday, so they could pay for their kids to go to college. So they started buying multiples. As we all know, the publishers were all too happy to oblige, hence the spectator boom. WIZARD Magazine also was very, very influential. 

It was a racket and it was a sucker club. I then vividly remember like, 2007 or so- being in a comic book store and a kind of ivy league guy came in to try to sell a shoebox's worth of comics. (They weren't in a shoebox, I'm just remembering the size of the pile he had was equal to this)

He seemed amazed that his X-Men #1 and Darkhawk #1 weren't worth anything- to the point where he thought the guy at the cash register might be just saying this to get them for lower. And my friend and I were kind of observing this with some fascination- the guy selling was like, 'Look, just give me $1,500 for all of them then- you wanna haggle, I'll haggle." And the comic store guy (who was being very patient and polite) chuckled and was like, no, these are just very COMMON.

The guy was polite but annoyed and again said like, "but it says 'Collector's Item'"- and this is something my friend and I riffed on as a joke for a few years afterward. We even designed a prank which we never executed in which we were gonna call different comic shops and record the call and claim we'd been left our Uncle's valuable comic book collection from his Estate- and then tell the potentially excited comic store owner that we had Secret Defenders #1. Then act like their expected disinterest was a sign of haggling, and respond with "You want to play hardball, I can respect it. Okay, I've got Secret Defenders #1 and Sleepwalker #1- give me a grand and their yours!" We never put the effort into doing this prank.

But I thought about that guy years later as I got older. It's easy to laugh at him for being a mark and easy to have a lack of sympathy because he or his parents were obviously non-fans. But... didn't he have a point? Didn't all the publishers come on strong that these were "collectable" and "valuable" and for collectors? I wonder how many thousands of civilians who DID buy the death of Superman, etc. later got sobered up. That may also be why sales of comics today have also tanked (besides the rising cover price, etc.)- just people that may have gotten into it got burned. 

[KCOComics]

5 minutes ago, kav said:

death of superman

This was certainly when people started looking at all comics different. Allot of folks could figure out 1930s and 40s superman was worth a lot. 

But Death of Superman started getting people looking at comics differently.

Then ebay made finding values easy. So I would say Death of Superman, strengthened by eBay, further strengthened by CGC. 

[kav]

4 minutes ago, wisbyron said:

It was the early nineties. I was there- I was 12, but I was there.

I remember vividly: people around the block to buy the Death of Superman. I remember an Aunt calling to tell me she tried to get me one on her lunch break but there was a line out the door.

I remember vividly: going to my Grandparents and being flabbergasted that comics were being sold on QVC and Home Shopping Network. Playing up the "collectable" and investment side of it- I remember Dan Jurgens being a guest on one of these shows, I remember the Malibu "Protectors" which had a real bullet shot through it (!!) and the hosts of these shows obviously not knowing anything about comics.

I remember vividly "mainstream" coverage of comic books- the public became aware not of the potential of investment, but became aware that some OLD comics were worth tens of thousands (then) without realizing what KEYS were.. and, also not realizing WHY things are rare and why old books would be valuable in the first place, which still applies today: because of the War effort, so paper was recycled, because people didn't collect things, because newsprint deteriorates.

So this mass collective thought hit them that ALL comics would quadruple their value someday, so they could pay for their kids to go to college. So they started buying multiples. As we all know, the publishers were all too happy to oblige, hence the spectator boom. WIZARD Magazine also was very, very influential. 

It was a racket and it was a sucker club. I then vividly remember like, 2007 or so- being in a comic book store and a kind of ivy league guy came in to try to sell a shoebox's worth of comics. (They weren't in a shoebox, I'm just remembering the size of the pile he had was equal to this)

He seemed amazed that his X-Men #1 and Darkhawk #1 weren't worth anything- to the point where he thought the guy at the cash register might be just saying this to get them for lower. And my friend and I were kind of observing this with some fascination- the guy selling was like, 'Look, just give me $1,500 for all of them then- you wanna haggle, I'll haggle." And the comic store guy (who was being very patient and polite) chuckled and was like, no, these are just very COMMON.

The guy was polite but annoyed and again said like, "but it says 'Collector's Item'"- and this is something my friend and I riffed on as a joke for a few years afterward. We even designed a prank which we never executed in which we were gonna call different comic shops and record the call and claim we'd been left our Uncle's valuable comic book collection from his Estate- and then tell the potentially excited comic store owner that we had Secret Defenders #1. Then act like their expected disinterest was a sign of haggling, and respond with "You want to play hardball, I can respect it. Okay, I've got Secret Defenders #1 and Sleepwalker #1- give me a grand and their yours!" We never put the effort into doing this prank.

But I thought about that guy years later as I got older. It's easy to laugh at him for being a mark and easy to have a lack of sympathy because he or his parents were obviously non-fans. But... didn't he have a point? Didn't all the publishers come on strong that these were "collectable" and "valuable" and for collectors? I wonder how many thousands of civilians who DID buy the death of Superman, etc. later got sobered up. That may also be why sales of comics today have also tanked (besides the rising cover price, etc.)- just people that may have gotten into it got burned. 

We used to do prank calls jerky boy style and its amazing wha you can get people to agree to if you are pushy.   

[lordbyroncomics]

Just now, KCOComics said:

This was certainly when people started looking at all comics different. Allot of folks could figure out 1930s and 40s superman was worth a lot. 

But Death of Superman started getting people looking at comics differently.

Then ebay made finding values easy. So I would say Death of Superman, strengthened by eBay, further strengthened by CGC. 

I have to respectfully disagree as eBay wasn't a factor until the very early 2000s' and this was almost a decade before this. Again, I can't stress this enough- QVC and Home Shopping Network routinely had comic book programming. There's a lot you can read on the spectator boom of the nineties, and it's fascinating if you like comic history. People unaware of comics as anything other than stuff on a comics stand did not know older comics were worth a lot until this started being mentioned in news segments more. 

[catman76]

In the mid and late 80s I would find old comics at antique shops and flea markets for a quarter, fifty cents still, sometimes a buck but that was high still. Then in the early 90s when comic books were in the news and all the speculator stuff was going on even the mom and pop at the flea market thought ever comic book they had was worth a small fortune and they'd mark all their worthless 70s Archies up to five or ten bucks each. The early 90s was the death of it all and when the fun of it all died in my opinion. Comics turned into investment collectable things with better paper and printing and all the variant crud. Same thing happened to trading cards when topps and all the card companies in the early 90s got rid of the cheap cardstock, bad printing, gum and wax packs and marketed it all as collectables.

[KCOComics]

1 hour ago, wisbyron said:

I have to respectfully disagree as eBay wasn't a factor until the very early 2000s' and this was almost a decade before this. Again, I can't stress this enough- QVC and Home Shopping Network routinely had comic book programming. There's a lot you can read on the spectator boom of the nineties, and it's fascinating if you like comic history. People unaware of comics as anything other than stuff on a comics stand did not know older comics were worth a lot until this started being mentioned in news segments more. 

Oh I agree. 

I remember Death of Superman being on QVC and my brother and I making my parents watch! "It's a limited edition! Guaranteed to go up in value!!!" 

My point on eBay was about advancing the collectibililty. It started in early 90s for sure. And eBay just created access and information, that was like pouring gasoline on the fire.  

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by KCOComics

[kav]

4 minutes ago, catman76 said:

worthless 70s Archies up to five or ten bucks each.

They never sold ever but that did not deter them.
They were convinced they had a gold mine.
I have personally broke the news to people that their comics aint worth squat and their eyes narrow in suspicion.  Even when I say i dont want them, even for free, they think I'm trying to "rip them off" somehow-

Edited April 27, 2021 by kav

[kav]

"BUT THESE COMICS ARE FORTY YEARS OLD!!!!"
"Ma'am I have comics that are 60 years old that aint worth squat.  70, even".

Edited April 27, 2021 by kav

[Chaz G.]

1983, when i went to my LCS and ordered a VF/NM copy of X-Men 141 for $3.

[kav]

12 minutes ago, I Am Inevitable said:

This is the correct answer 

IBTL!

[kav]

[Ablation Steve]

Love all the responses.

I learned a very important life lesson in 1991 when X-men #1 came out. I ordered 50 copies, because #1, right?! I thought that I was taking 50 copies from the supply they'd already printed, but in reality they were just printing another 50 copies for me (essentially). Yes, I was stupid to think that, but since then it's helped me question the validity of anything labeled a collector's item or limited edition. 

But hey, a month later X-Men #1 was OUT OF PRINT! So the joke is on everyone else, i guess.

[Ken Aldred]

‘Oh, they MUST be worth something’ seems to have always been the standard response.  Even back in the 70s my grandmother said that, very first thing.  
 

Or, over a very small pile of comics in the house, ‘you’ll soon have enough to open a shop!’

Actually caring about the contents of these books rather than their market value first and foremost seemed even then to be the unfathomable perception of an isolated, desperate, deluded group of marginalised weirdos.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Ken Aldred

[Ablation Steve]

2 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

Actually caring about the contents of these books rather than their market value seemed even then to be the unfathomable perception of an isolated group of marginalised weirdos.

And now an Avengers movie is the highest grossing movie of all time. I kinda miss being a weirdo for liking comics.